Parkerizing the Express

[EdwardE]

I'm curious if any forum members have gotten their Express' parkerized?

[Synchronizor]

I looked into having it done a few years back. A local gunsmith pointed me to a fellow up north who had park tanks. I called him, and he quoted me $85 if I did all the disassembly and brought in the parts. Seemed like a pretty good deal, but since I've yet to have anything but cosmetic issues with my Express-finished parts, I decided to leave them that way until I'm done with school.

[EdwardE]

I've been looking into getting this done and have found a couple of gunsmiths (on line) that I plan to call to and get some additional information. One of the companies is AI&P; seems to use the Express as the basic platform for many of his tactical builds. The other is Boses; they offer both zinc and manganese park jobs.

I had an interesting (and very brief) conversation with Remington about their park finishes today. I asked if they were zinc or manganese. I was put on hold for a bit and then informed that that information is proprietary and they would not be able to provide me with an answer. I suspect they use a manganese phos. based on the color but I don't know for sure.

[Synchronizor]

If you do decide to go through with it, we'd love to hear/see details. The finish is about the biggest improvement Police 870s have over similarly-equipped Express models, the few other differences are mostly preferential things.

I'm not sure what type of Parkerizing Remington uses. Other treatments can be used to darken Parkerizing, so the color alone isn't a definitive way to identify a specific chemistry. I'm also not sure about the advantages/disadvantages of the different types of Parkerizing. J. D. at AI&P knows his stuff, and he's been in Remington's factory, so he should be able to help you out if you get in touch with him.

[badboybeeson]

I've been looking into getting this done and have found a couple of gunsmiths (on line) that I plan to call to and get some additional information. One of the companies is AI&P; seems to use the Express as the basic platform for many of his tactical builds. The other is Boses; they offer both zinc and manganese park jobs.

I had an interesting (and very brief) conversation with Remington about their park finishes today. I asked if they were zinc or manganese. I was put on hold for a bit and then informed that that information is proprietary and they would not be able to provide me with an answer. I suspect they use a manganese phos. based on the color but I don't know for sure.

No that's funny as hell! there is only zinc or Mag nothing "proprietary" about something they did not invent and is 100+ years old.
One of the things we found is depending on what metal is used as to what shade the park comes out at, when redoing an 870 the mag tube and the frame will be different.